Sweet Little Lies was an Amazon Bestseller last year, and as usual I never quite got round to reading it at the time. However, there it sat on my TBR pile along with so many others – so many books , so little time. Aha! Audiobook to the rescue. I’m so glad I picked this novel, it’s got all the ingredients of a good crime novel – whodunnit, why, and how. However this book is not a police procedural and not a psychological thriller but is in fact a mixture of the two. Refreshing, tense, warm and funny.

I have no idea why Audible have categorised it under Self Help and How To Guides, Parenting and Families (whaaaaaat?) as well as Thrillers …It is a thriller.

About the book: here is the blurb from Amazon.

What I thought I knew: in 1998, Maryanne Doyle disappeared, and Dad knew something about it. Maryanne Doyle was never seen again.

What I actually know: in 1998, Dad lied about knowing Maryanne Doyle. Alice Lapaine has been found strangled near Dad’s pub. Dad was in the local area for both Maryanne Doyle’s disappearance and Alice Lapaine’s murder.

My Review:

Cat Kinsella is part of a murder investigation team and this immediately places her in a compromising position when her father could very easily become a suspect in a local murder and linked to the disappearance of Maryanne Doyle. Cat’s no angel and her father is/was a bad boy, in fact good or bad no one in this story is what they seem to be and this tests Cat’s loyalties to breaking point.

The story was well plotted and the characters very believable which is a sound basis for any decent book, which this is. It wasn’t at all difficult to find myself totally absorbed by the twists and turns of this debut novel and, because of the engaging writing style, the first person perspective worked extremely well. As did the settings for the story and the dynamics of Cat’s family. I say family, but she has two families really – one by virtue of her birth and the other her work ‘family’. The title says it all, it’s packed with secrets and lies and yet Caz Frear pulls all the threads together at the end. Neat and very satisfactory. I really enjoyed this one!

The Audiobook:

Congratulations to the narrator. What a fine job especially with the number of characters she had to find voices for. None of the male voices grated on me which can, I’m afraid to say, sometimes happen when females are narrating (A personal view). This is a top quality production.